Falling For A Stranger
by Ha-LoCo
Summary: What happens when Embry imprints on a girl he's never met? A girl who doesn't live in the same country as him? Even worse, a girl who's getting married? EmbryxOC Please read and review.


Me, and Paul were in Seattle. He had walked inside a store, a store that had windows full of wedding dresses. I was left outside in the car, feeling annoyed and slightly depressed.

Paul had left me outside so that he could help out his cousin who was getting married. I didn't know who she was and I didn't care. All I wanted was to go home and possibly mope. She'd left me. I hadn't imprinted on her, but it still hurt. I'd been dating Annabel since we were 17, for five years, and I thought she loved me.

When she left me I was going to look for her. I would have searched the Earth to find her. I honestly didn't know how I could have loved anyone more if I had imprinted.

Sam, and the rest of the pack, my family convinced me to stay.

"She's not right for you, Embry."

I hadn't wanted to listen, but deep down I knew they were right. I also knew something else. No one was right for me. I hadn't imprinted yet. The right girl didn't exist. I was doomed to spend the rest of my life alone.

I wondered what could be taking so long. I'd been sitting out here for an hour at least, and the streets had become so crowded I could barely even see the front door.

To amuse myself I picked out random strangers in the street and made up stories about them. The man walking his dog was a secret agent in disguise. The young woman with a screaming toddler was on the run from the cops and was struggling to stay inconspicuous with her son and the bag full of cash she carried. And the boy with the bike was a world famous assassin sent to Seattle to deal with a member of the government who had insulted the mafia.

I sighed as my thoughts drifted back to Annabel. She'd left me over a month ago, and the guys had been great. They knew exactly what I was going through. Literally.

A rap on my window brought me back to the present and I turned to see Paul's goofy face pressed up against my window.

"We're all set." He grinned.

"What took you so long?"

"Women." He rolled his eyes knowingly. "She couldn't decide between two dresses. Look, I'm going back to their place to help carry some stuff so you can head on home."

I smiled sarcastically. "Great, thanks. What did you drag me out here with you for if you were heading back to their place?"

Paul's smile slid off his face. "I didn't know I was going to head back there. Who knew shoes could be so heavy?" He smiled trying to lighten the atmosphere. I didn't smile back. Annabel had left me with a broken heart, and she had also taken everything good about me. My easygoing personality and my sense of humour had both vanished.

"Sorry Paul, I'll head back to Sam's, you going to be there later?" His eyes narrowed. He saw the struggle I had to keep my voice light, but he didn't comment on it. He just nodded but with a sad expression on his face.

"I'll see you guys later." He turned and headed back inside.

I groaned. I knew the effect I was having on my pack and it wasn't fair to them. They were suffering just like me. They were having the dreams just like me. The nightmares. Every night I woke in a cold sweat, remembering when Annabel told me she was leaving.

-Flashback-

Embry walked in the door of the house he shared with his long time girlfriend. They hadn't been living there long, just six months and Embry thought that everything was fine. He loved Annabel more than anything else. He thought they must be soul mates. Even though he hadn't imprinted, he thought they were meant to be together.

The house they shared was small with only one bedroom. But that was fine they didn't need more. Not yet anyway. Embry had to catch himself frequently. He was only 23 he didn't want children yet. Right?

Annabel was waiting for Embry in the kitchen. Her usually messy hair was neat and tied back in a ponytail. She hadn't been to work that day and usually she wouldn't have bothered getting dressed, but that day she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Embry knew that something was wrong instantly. Normally she would be bouncing through the door to meet him, and today she was standing stock still her eyes gazing into space when he walked up to her.

He pressed his lips to hers, breaking her out of her trance. And she pulled away much too soon. She bustled around finishing the spaghetti she was making deliberately making more work for herself, and Embry quickly set out the table. He knew something was wrong and he wasn't sure how to ask her.

They sat at the kitchen table in silence. Embry watched her while she ate, she didn't even seem to acknowledge him all evening.

It was late at night and there was a sitcom on the television screen that neither of them were really watching when Embry finally plucked up the courage to ask her what was wrong. She turned her eyes on him. Her eyes would normally be filled with love when she looked at him, but then there was nothing in her eyes except annoyance.

"Nothing." She almost spat the words at him and Embry shrank back. He walked up the stairs slowly dragging his feet and walked into the bedroom. It was then that he noticed the suitcase lying on the bed. He walked over to it and picked it up, just to make sure. The suitcase was obviously full and he carried it down the stairs and placed it in the hall. He waited in silence for Annabel to walk into the hall, trying to grasp what was about to happen.

When Annabel walked out and looked at his silent form, and then at the suitcase next to him she sighed quietly.

"I'm sorry." The words she spoke were lies. She wasn't sorry at all. Embry tried to remember what he had done to make her leave, but all his memories were happy and he couldn't think anyway, the situation was too big.

When she walked out of the door, she walked out of his life. Embry stood in the drive watching her car drive away, before turning back to the now empty house.

Embry had few memories about what happened later that night. He remembered phasing, and he remembered the pack, the only family he could always count on, phasing too. They shared his anguish and it was thanks to them that he made it through that night.

-End Flashback-

I waited in the car anyway. I had to apologise to Paul. When she'd first left me, Paul struggled not to phase when he was with me almost constantly. Everything I said to my pack was either an insult or a question. The question was always the same. Why did she leave? And to this they had no answer.

When Paul came out carrying the box of shoes, he saw me sitting in the car and grinned. He walked to the car that was parked in front and loaded the box into the back, before heading back towards me.

"You still here, Embry?"

"Apparently." I felt myself smile and for a moment I was surprised. I rarely smiled these days.

"What's up man?"

"Well I agreed to help you out with your cousin whose getting married, and I haven't even met her. She won't like me if I'm just sitting in the car not helping you guys out."

Paul nodded and stepped back so I could get out of the car. He started walking across the street, rather than into the store.

"Where are you going?" I called confused.

"I told Ella that I'd pick up a magazine for her," he called without turning around.

I deliberated for a moment on the sidewalk, before deciding it would be better to let Paul introduce me to her. I followed Paul to a store on the other side of the street. He stood for a few moments staring blankly at the rows of magazines.

"Erm, what do you think she wants?"

I quickly scanned the shelves, and the name of a familiar magazine stood out. Annabel always bought it. I pulled a copy off the shelf and handed it to Paul.

"Try this one." Paul gave me a strange look.

"What makes you think she'd want that one?"

I shrugged, trying not to let any expression into my face as I spoke, "Annabel used to get it."

I could feel Paul's eyes scanning my face looking for some hint of emotion, sadness maybe? It looked like I had gotten away with it and Paul turned away from me to buy the magazine.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and pressed my knuckles into them. It was amazing how much pain I could feel from just seeing the familiar magazine that Annabel had a subscription to. My pain was never going to heal, was it? Nobody wanted me. The love of my life had left me and I was left with nothing except a broken heart.

"Embry?" Paul's voice brought me back and I looked up to see both him, and the shopkeeper looking at me with worried expressions on their faces. "You ok?"

I fought to get a calm, relatively happy expression on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine why?" I tried to look innocent. Paul, nodded but I knew he didn't buy it. He knew exactly why I had acted so weird in there.

We walked outside in silence and a teenager on a bike flew past us.

-Flashback-

Annabel and Embry were sitting in an expensive restaurant, opposite Annabel's grandparents, who she hadn't seen for years.

The old man and woman had been shocked to find Annabel had come with her boyfriend. When they asked the two of them how far away their rooms were, they had been shocked to find they were sharing.

"The two of you are living in sin!" Annabel's grandmother had shouted for the whole restaurant to hear. The restaurant was inside the hotel, and the family staying next to Embry and Annabel looked over and the teenage girl giggled loudly.

Annabel's face had gone bright red. And she dropped her face into her hands. Embry looked at Annabel and he grinned at her. He leaned over to whisper, "Are you alright?"

She'd looked up and glared at him, "No, I'm not."

Embry immediately felt sorry for her, but he found the situation funny and he wanted to make her laugh too.

He glanced around at the silent restaurant. Before tossing his napkin to the ground and standing up dramatically. Before he could reach his full height he felt Annabel tugging at his sleeve, "What are you doing?" she'd hissed under her breath. He'd gently pulled her fingers off and smiled.

"Ladies and gentlemen," He'd started in a loud clear voice, so if anyone had lost attention, he had gained it again. "As you may have heard, me and my girlfriend, Annabel are in fact 'living in sin.'" He'd raised both hands and made quotation marks with his fingers. He glanced down at his girlfriend who was sitting slumped, holding her head in her hands, trying in vain not to draw attention to herself. Then he reached over and pulled her up by her forearms. She stared at him in horror.

"What are you doing?" she hissed again. He leaned forward to whisper only to her,

"You'll see."

To the rest of the room he said, "The reason me and my girlfriend are living this way, which we apologise to her grandparents fully for, is I happen to be truly and madly in love with her."

Annabel stared up at him and Embry stared down at her, "Really?" she'd asked loud enough for the whole room to hear, and some sniggering erupted from some people.

"Really." He smiled down at her sweetly.

"I love you too, Embry." A smile spread across both of their faces and he slowly slipped his arms around her waist. She reached up to put her arms around his neck and they leaned towards each other. Their kiss was quick and sweet, but there was so much love there, Embry never wanted to let go.

That was the first time they told each other they loved each other. They knew it already, but saying it out loud made it all the more real.

Wolf-whistles came from around the room, along with aww's from the girls and eww's from the children.

But Embry and Annabel paid no attention and just gazed at each other. They broke out of their trance when Annabel's grandmother shouted "Embry Call! Let go of my granddaughter!"

Embry laughed, but started to pull away. Annabel caught one of his hands and pulled him outside with her.

When they reached the sidewalk they started running and a teenager on a bike flew past…

-End flashback-

I sighed, a thousand times a day I told myself I wouldn't think about her, and a thousand times a day I failed. After a few more seconds I realised that Paul was talking to me.

"Sorry, what were you saying." I cut him off in mid-sentence and he threw me a look I couldn't understand. Pity?

"You have to stop these daydreams, Embry."

"I wasn't daydreaming," I insisted.

"Of course you weren't." He agreed but with a sarcastic expression on his face. "Oh, and that's her."

I looked in the direction that he was waving. And I gasped as the most amazing thing happened…

**Please review!**


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